Teens make it work
TWO Fridays ago, I attended the opening night of The Fortunettes – an award-winning retro musical – at Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
It was an assignment I had the privilege of undertaking, as part of my participation in The Star’s
BRATs Young Journalist Programme.
Jonathan Lee Rong Sheng, another teen journalist, joined me at the much-anticipated event, as well.
For a couple of hours, we sat in the third row from the stage (also known as the VIP section) and were entertained with the dazzling performances by close to 30 teenagers.
Against the 1960s backdrop, they sang, danced and acted with such energy and power that I simply couldn’t tear my eyes away from the stage.
And when the music picked up pace, I found myself shimmying to the beats of songs such as Stupid Cupid, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
and Please Mr Postman.
Having had a great time, I left DPAC somewhat reluctantly but I knew I would be in for an exciting time the next day – I would have the chance to interview some of the performers.
The following morning, there I was again at the DPAC theatre. This time though, the hall was empty as it was hours before show time.
I was taken backstage where the cast members were in the midst of checking the props and costumes, and getting their makeup and hair done.
I did a double take when I saw an array of dresses on a rack – there were three rows of these, with 15 dresses in each!
As I sat in a dressing room waiting for my interviewees, I was prepared to see some tired faces.
If as an audience member I had trouble getting out of bed that morning, what more someone who had performed numerous dance numbers the night before!
However, contrary to my expectation, they looked pumped and excited for their next show. I suppose that is the perk of being young, right?
During the interview, I found out more about the teens and was in awe to learn how well-grounded they were.
It was evident that they had to juggle a number of things such as meeting assignment deadlines and studying for their examinations, all while pursuing their passion for the performing arts.
However demanding their schedules were, these teens managed to make it work.
Their maturity impressed me and I feel that other teens who have set their eyes on the performing arts could look to them as role models.
As director Zachary Wong said at the end of the opening night performance: “These kids can grow up to be doctors, lawyers and architects. But with the performing arts, they would become compassionate doctors, compassionate lawyers, and compassionate architects.”
Check out the BRATs section in The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (NiE) pullout on April 26 for a full review of The Fortunettes, a Q&A session with Zachary Wong and the production team behind the musical, and interview articles with some of the leading cast and ensemble members.